EP reviewed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3BSAbklHuI

Blood Brothers Episode 4 was posted on September 16, 2015. It clocks in at just over 14 minutes long, and with that said, I’m Knightmare, and let’s get started.

We open on our two brothers, who talk about needing to go past the human settlements in order to reach the woods behind them. Aidan expresses concern about going near humans, but Cobalt insists there’s no other way. I sort of love this scene here, because Aidan notices a hole in the fence, while Cobalt attempts to just push the fence down. It’s a nice characterization of the two brothers.

We get a flashback of the two learning to stay away from humans after a lesson by their mother, who…brings them to the edge of the forest…to show them…? Wait, okay, how long has it been since they first left their home? Is this a different road, or no? Because it would not only be ludicrous to bring two young pups all the way through the forest just to say “never go here again” and head home, but it’s also silly to bring them to a road in the first place. Why not sneak over here alone, then bring like a red cup or something back to show the kids that weird items like these are signals that humans are around and that they should stay away? The kids agree never to go near humans, and we are given the opening. Afterwards, we join back with our brothers as they comment about almost making it through the human settlement. Cobalt is then tackled mid-speech. We get a pretty humorous exchange between the two brothers, before the new dog gets off him and lamients that she didn’t expect him to fall so easily. Then…what? Why would you go to tackle someone if you didn’t expect to tackle them? Why would you attack someone with the thought that your attack might not do anything to them? This seems overall like a really poor plan. While the brothers banter some more, Hurricane, the newcomer, says: [clip]. …what. What is being said here? I can’t…I can’t hear it at all. Hurricane then demands the two of them come with her and we get this faceoff between Cobalt and her. Wasn’t she supposed to be a big dog? In this frame she looks to be about the same size as Cobalt. Why were the two of them unsure about taking her own earlier? There’s two of them, and one of her. Aidan has already proven himself to be a capable fighter, too. What’s the issue here?

They decide to follow her because Aidan is worried that an entire pack of dogs might come after them if they don’t follow her…but…I mean, if you took her down, or just ran, the likelihood of her getting back to tell her pack that there are rogues in their territory before the two of them make it out seems pretty low. I don’t…understand this logic.

They all make it back to the pack, where Hurricane proceeds to introduce everyone? In light of how her pack is revealed to be later on, this seems an odd and potentially dangerous choice. Her pack is rather vicious and unforgiving, so why would she risk appearing chummy with a rogue? Hurricane explains that she’s only in this pack because she didn’t have an alternative when she was younger, but now she’s older? And probably stronger? She’s obviously allowed to go out and patrol, too, so why not just slip away if you don’t like it here? Again, seems like flawed logic.

Aidan watches from afar with a smile before Dagger interrupts him, asking why he’s here. We get a hint of her personality, and she leaves to talk with Jaws, who comments on Hurricane’s friendliness with the hostages. See? This is why you don’t display your kindness around hostile packmates. This honestly seems like one of the worst ideas.

In the morning, the brothers are brought to see the alpha, and I must say, though I like the exchange between Cobalt and his suddenly revealed father, I wish there was more buildup. We get some really good pay-off, but it feels odd without the proper buildup. I wish I could’ve seen more of the brothers’ reactions before hand, and I wish I could’ve seen them looking up at him as the alpha’s true identity is slowly revealed. Here it just comes off as incredibly quick, and it takes me off guard.

As for the actual exchange, I don’t really have anything critique-wise to say. Their father does say “I’ll admit” a lot, which can be distracting and takes me out of the moment. Also, Aidan’s reactions are so…lackluster? Isn’t he surprised to see his father again? Even if he’s holding his outrage or emotions back so as not to be harmed by his father and his father’s pack, I would’ve liked to have seen more from him. …I guess I did have something critique-wise to say about the exchange.

Also, what’s up with this scene? [clip] So…what triggered this response from their father? Cobalt has been threatening him this whole time, why does he respond like this? No one has mentioned forgiveness, no one has mentioned wanting him to be their actual father? Weird.

Their father tells them to leave, and it appears like the brothers do, but…Hurricane comes to talk to Cobalt? At night? Okay, how much time has passed? Wouldn’t the two brothers be long gone by now? Or did they like, sit around to mope? I’m confused.

I’m also perplexed as to why Hurricane cares so much about him when they just met? Though I will say I really find the way Cobalt reacts to Hurricane trying to comfort him real and interesting. [clip]

Hurricane finds out that Slate wants the two pups dead and warns the brothers, insisting she’s going to come along. The brothers decide to leave on the most obvious route before doubling back to get Hurricane. Again, seems like flawed logic. Wouldn’t they have a better chance of the three of them running off together? Then it’d be three against two—assuming Slate doesn’t come along—and they’d have the upper hand. Seriously. Sticking together seems like the best option. This instant the brothers leave, Dagger arrives on the scene of the solitary Hurricane, saying her suspicious were correct. They talk a bit before any action happens, and I can’t help but notice the awesome song picked for this scene? Its slow build is really cool and holds a hidden layer of intensity that I thoroughly enjoy.

What I don’t enjoy is that Hurricane suddenly seems keen on just dying? Cobalt said he was going to double back for her, meaning that if she dies, the pups will come back looking for her and she’ll have put them in harm’s way. Meaning she needs to live, or find a way to tell the pups not to come back so as to keep them safe. Dagger kills her, saying that the pups are next. We flash back to our two main characters, who have now gone far enough to throw any trackers off their scent apparently, and the two of them talk about Hurricane in an endearing manner. Now this, this I really like. As the audience, we know what’s befallen Hurricane, and the two brothers don’t. We are already mourning her, and seeing them unknowing of her death is painful for us. And emotion and feelings are always amazing things to get out of a viewer or reader, so I applaud this scene.

The two brothers double back, and the music grows louder as they come across Hurricane’s body. The credits roll as Cobalt looks tearfully down at the body of someone he cared for.

Overall? The episode was more or less solid. It has a lot of good, enjoyable moments, and I will forever enjoy the banter between the two siblings. I also think a lot of the music choices were good in this episode, though it’s not my forte, so take that with a grain of salt. I have a few issues with the brothers just casually referring to their dad as a potential murderer, when they’ve never known him to kill someone else, and have only known him to abandon his children and his sickly mate. Yes, this is bad, but why do they so readily assume he’d be ready to murder them if given the chance before Hurricane tells him of the order she received? However, I still enjoyed the episode, and I find the ending pretty good, so I’d recommend it to anyone who’s interested.

Do you agree with me? Maybe you hate everything I just said. Let’s have a discussion about it in the comments section below. Want to draw some expressions for me to use in my videos? There’s a ref of my character in the description. Also down there, you can find me on different media sites, like twitter, deviantart, tumblr, and even my personal youtube account. I’m Knightmare, thank you all for watching, make sure to hit like, subscribe, and I’ll see you guys next time.